How Do You Feel
by Ferbi56
Summary: Karamatsu has been in an accident and is now trapped in a coma, fighting with his own thoughts. Jyushimatsu seems to be the only one who knows what happened to him since he brought him home, but refuses to talk about what happened. Will the other brothers find out what happened to the second oldest? Will Karamatsu wake up from his seemingly endless coma?
1. Prologue

He can't hear anything but the ringing in his ears, he isn't even sure what's happened.

" _Someone call an ambulance! Quick!"_

" _I'm on it!"_

He hears the voices screaming for an ambulance and telling him to stay awake, to not close his eyes, but they're so heavy, it wouldn't hurt to rest them for a minute right?

" _No, no. Come on now, open your eyes. That's it!"_

He fought to keep his eyes open again, he couldn't focus on anything, it was all blurry. He has finally become aware of the pain throughout his body and he can barely hear the ambulance blaring in the distance.

" _Just hang on a little longer! Help is almost here! Just hang on!"_

He was being lifted. He wasn't sure by who but he was being lifted by. The paramedics he guessed. He looked up at the bright lights of the ambulance, trying to find something slightly recognizable in the light.

" _I'm going with him whether you like it or not. I'm not leaving him now."_

He looked up to see his older brother climb into the ambulance as the truck took off down the street.

"Just hang on a little longer Karamatsu you're going to be okay." Osomatsu flashed his signature smile.

That was the last thing the second brother saw before blacking out.


	2. Where is Everyone?

Karamatsu sat up, feeling a pounding in his head. He quickly brought his hands to his head and looked around.

"Where did everyone go?" He asked. He was sitting in the dining room the brothers all shared. There wasn't a soul in sight.

"I guess they all left without me again. Heh, I'll just have to catch up." He said rising to his feet. It looked dark outside which led him to believe they had all gone out to the public bath house. He dashed upstairs to get his things before coming back down and sliding on his shoes to head out the door.

Arriving at the bath house not long after, the second brother was shocked to find that the entire building was completely empty.

Karamatsu raised an eyebrow, "Where the hell is everyone?"

After spending time to wash his hair and clean up he left without another word and returned home. He returned his things to their proper place and searched the house, still not finding a single soul inside. Karamatsu was starting to get worried, it was one thing for his parents to be out this late, but to have all of his brothers missing as well was unsettling.

"What happened to everyone? What's going on?" He asked to nobody as he searched the house for the fifth time. Everything looked pretty normal. Nothing was out of place, so where were his brothers? Karamatsu thought a bit longer before rolling out the futon and heading to sleep. If his brothers were anywhere near here, they would be back before morning.

* * *

"Karamatsu Matsuno?" A doctor called out into the ER waiting room. The remaining five brothers quickly stood up from their seats and walked over. Since Osomatsu had ridden with Karamatsu in the ambulance, the others had come over as soon as possible and were there within the hour.

"Well? How is he?" Osomatsu had been deemed the one in charge of talking to the doctors until they were able to get a hold of their parents. Which was just fine since the others hadn't been taking the incident well at all and weren't exactly talkative.

"Mr. Matsuno is in a coma. He sustained several injuries including a severe blow to the head which appears to be the cause of his coma. Other than that he has received several bruises across his body which will heal in time and a fractured arm which is also expected to heal in time."

As soon as the word 'coma' had been mentioned, all of their heads had snapped up. They couldn't believe it. _"Karamatsu is in a coma?!"_ They all had the same thought. It was a minute before Osomatsu cleared his throat to speak again.

"Can we see him now?" His voice cracked as the words slipped out.

The doctor nodded, "Of course. This way." The man pointed and led them off in a sperate direction.

* * *

The walk to the second brothers room seemed to take hours for each of the brothers. Jyushimatsu was clining to Ichimatsu the entire time and Todomatsu kept a firm grip on the eldest brothers hand. When they finally arrived in his room they were all shocked at how bad he really looked. With all the wires and nozzles and machines everywhere keeping him alive, it was hard to establish. Each of them walked over to his bed individually starting with Osomatsu.

They were all surounding his bed at this point. Ichimatsu and Choromatsu each took a hold of Karamatsu's hand.

"Karamatsu-nii-san looks so weak." Jyushimatsu was the first to break the awkward silence hanging in the air. Todomatsu nodded along with Choromatsu. Karamatsu didn't look like himself at all. No flashy clothing, no self-confident attitude, no anything. It was as if his entire personality had just vanished and no longer existed. It was scary to think about.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Choromatsu asked.

"What can we do? He's in a coma, it's not like there's a special treatment for comas out there." Ichimatsu replied.

"I don't want him to be alone on his first night here though." Osomatsu stated. "One or two of us should stay here with him until tomorrow."

The others agreed and after a bit of debate, Osomatsu had still earned the right to stay as the oldest brother. Once visiting hours came to a close, Osomatsu put Choromatsu in charge as the temporary "oldest brother" and sent them on their way. Although angry that they could not be the ones to stay they all said goodbye and wished them both a good night despite not knowing if Karamatsu could actually hear them or not and left.

Ososmatsu watched them leave before pulling up a chair beside his brothers bed and taking the youngers hand in his own. The older brother carefully watched Karamatu's chest rise and fall so he knew he was breathing.

"Hey Kara. I don't know if you can actually hear me or not. I've heard coma patients can hear everything that's being said to them but I never could tell for myself you know? I didn't know what to think when Jyushimatsu brought you home. Everyone started panicking and screaming for an ambulance. We were all really scared you weren't going to make it. Hell we still aren't sure. I mean, you're in a coma, you may never wake up for all we know. Oh God. You can't stay like this Kara. You have to wake up. I mean, how can we be the amazing sextuplets everyone knows with just five of us? Heh, you need to come back. For our sake." Osomatsu wasn't sure when he had started crying, and he wasn't sure when exactly he fell asleep either, but he never let go of Karamatsu's hand.


	3. Finding Osomatsu

" _Karamatsu-nii-san looks so weak."_

" _What are we supposed to do now?"_

" _I don't want him to be alone."_

" _You can't stay like this Kara. You have to wake up."_

 _Wake up_

 _Wake up_

 _Wake up..._

* * *

Karamatsu awoke the next morning in the same position he had fallen asleep in last night, eyes shooting open as he did, but to his surprise, none of his brothers laid on the futon with him. This fact made him sit upright, fast. He looked around the room quickly but his brothers clearly weren't there. Had they already gotten up? Had they even come to bed at all? Karamatsu wasn't sure. Even so, he crawled out of the futon and got dressed in his hoodie from before and then set himself to the task of folding up the futon before heading downstairs to find something to eat.

Once the futon was folded and put away, Karamatsu headed downstairs to the dining room. Instead of all of his brothers sitting there, no one sat. Karamatsu quickly searched the house in the same manner he had last night. No one else was there but himself.

 _It could be highly possible that they've all already gone out, but Jyushimatsu can't leave the house without informing a four block radius._ Karamatsu thought. So where was everybody? Deciding it would be better to eat something for breakfast first before going out on a search he walked to the kitchen and set himself to work. Karamatsu had never been much of a cook, at least not in his brother's eyes. Then again, his brothers didn't usually seem to think much of anything about him so it's not like it mattered in this sense.

After cooking and eating his breakfast, Karamatsu set the bowl to the side, as a reminder to clean up after himself later and set out to find any of his brothers. He checked all of Ichimatsu's favorite alleyways, the local baseball park, even all of the local coffee shops and idol stages with no sign of his brothers. It was starting to near noon by the time he had finished his search and he still had no sign of his brothers or his parents. He needed some space, needed to clear his head. So he went to the local park. There was a bridge there where he liked to just relax and listen to the people pass. But to his ultimate surprise, the bridge was completely empty, save for one person.

The only one he could call an older brother.

Karamatsu froze at the end of the bridge when he realized that it was Osomatsu that was the lone occupant of the structure. After taking a minute to convince himself that he wasn't hallucinating, he dashed across the bridge only to stop in front of his older brother.

"Where the heck have you guys been!? And where is everyone else? I've been looking everywhere for you guys!" Karamatsu shouted. There was no one else in the park so he doubted he'd be really bothering anybody.

Osomatsu stared at him with a blank face for a minute before his trademark smile and scratching his nose.

"Karamatsu we've been here all this time, the question is where have you been?" Osomatsu asked, confused at his brother's behavior.

"I've been at the house. You guys weren't there when I went to bed last night and you weren't there all morning either. I was starting to think you guys skipped town or something." Karamatsu replied, regaining his composure.

"We couldn't leave one of our amazing brothers behind are you crazy! Besides, we clearly haven't skipped town. Or I haven't at least! You have nothing to worry about." Osomatsu reassured, throwing his arm around his younger brothers shoulders.

"You're kidding right?" Karamatsu looked at his brother with a dumbfounded look. "You guys hate me you'd skip town and leave me behind without a second thought why are you acting as though you wouldn't?"

Now it was Osomatsu's turn to look dumbfounded. "What are talking about Karamatsu? We could never do something like that! Sure we can get on each other's nerves a lot but we couldn't just leave like that and never come back and leave one of us behind. That's just harsh!" he laughed. Karamatsu simply looked at his brother, that wasn't right, was it?

"Come on! Let's go play some pachinko since you're here!"

* * *

"Osomatsu? Osomatsu-nii-san? Wake up you moron!" Choromatsu shouted at his older brother, watching the older brothers head snap up with half-lidded eyes.

Osomatsu rubbed his eyes with his free hand and looked up to the green-clad brother, his other hand still clutching Karamatsu's . "Hey Fappymatsu, what are you doing here? What time is it?"

"It's eight in the morning. You've been here with Karamatsu-nii-san all night. Get up we need to get you some breakfast and the doctors want to run a few tests." Choromatsu answered, an unamused look at his rather rude nickname being used in a public place as Jyushimatsu helped to lift his older brother from his chair and out of the room.

After getting some breakfast together at a nearby restaurant, the five brothers returned to the hospital and spent the day there talking about random events and what the other five had done upon leaving yesterday, trying to keep their older brothers up to date. The six of them spent the remainder of the day together in Karamatsu's hospital room. Despite the lack of any type of response or movement from the second brother, the remaining five found that they were having fun despite spending the day in a cold hospital room. Todomatsu took a lot of pictures, his goal was to make a giant scrapbook so that if Karamatsu ever did wake up, he wouldn't have missed a thing.

Choromatsu had brought a bag with him that day as it had been decided that he would be the next one to spend the night with the second oldest at the hospital while the rest went home once visiting hours were over. Despite Osomatsu's protests about him being the oldest brother and him making the calls, it was already decided by the rest of them. This was they would all get to spend at least one night with him and it would be fair so they were going in order from oldest to youngest. Osomatsu couldn't argue with that.

They still weren't sure if Karamatsu could even hear them, but if he could, they wanted to hear them cheering him on to wake up and if they could accomplish that, that was all that mattered.


	4. What's Going On?

Osomatsu, or what Karamatsu assumed to be Osomatsu, dragged his younger brother all the way from the park to the spot where the sextuplets normally played pachinko and brought him inside.

"Whoa!" The older brother smiled, "It's pretty empty in here today! Come on let's go! Before someone else shows up!" Osomatsu shouted through the building, taking off through the machines.

Karamatsu stood there frozen in shock. This was a joke, right? Just a prank. His brothers hated him, that was something that was clearly obvious, so why was Osomatsu trying to go out of his way to include him in playing pachinko? Was he just trying to get Karamatsu to waste all his money gambling? The second brother wasn't sure. Karamatsu played a couple of games before deciding to give up before he spent all his money on losses. Osomatsu on the other hand just kept playing and playing. It seemed as though he would never stop so Karamatsu decided to butt in before he started another game.

"Osomatsu-nii-san, why don't we go back to the park? Before you spend all your money. You've been losing all afternoon." Karamatsu interjected. It was true, though, he didn't want Osomatsu to spend all of his money and he wanted to go back to the park and relax anyhow. If he could get Osomatsu out of there, he'd consider it a win.

"Ehhhhh?" Osomatsu blinked at him. "I guess you're right. Let's get out of here." The older brother stood up and stretched. Karamatsu was shocked, that had been rather easy!

Their walk back to the park was rather silent. Karamatsu didn't dare speak and his brother seemed to be enjoying the scenery. The entire walk gave Karamatsu an eerie feeling. Not once had his older brother insulted him, let alone mentioned where the other four brothers were, plus it had been as though Osomatsu had gone out of his way to include the second oldest, so what was going on? As they approached the bridge once more, Karamatsu thought over what to say.

"Hey, Osomatsu-nii-san? You seem to be acting rather weird today, is everything alright?" Karamatsu asked, he wasn't sure how else to bring it up. Osomatsu simply blinked at him at first. Like he had nothing to say or couldn't think of something that sounded genuine. Karamatsu was about to speak again when Osomatsu started to talk.

"I'm acting weird? Kara, you didn't even wear your leather jacket today or say anything painful! And you're telling me I'm acting weird?" The eldest laughed. "Are you sure you aren't losing it or something?"

The blue-clad brother was in shock yet again. There was definitely something wrong with this whole situation. Osomatsu just said he wasn't painful all day, in retrospect this was true, but not one of his brothers had ever passed up an opportunity to insult him right to his face before.

"You haven't insulted me once all day. And I haven't even seen any of our younger brothers all day! Doesn't that bother you? You're the one who usually wants to annoy us or for us to come play with you or something! You're usually the first to insult me too if Ichimatsu isn't around! So tell me what's going on! Why are you being so nice to me all of a sudden?" Karamatsu had begun shouting, his voice cracking as he did. He couldn't understand, why was this happening? What was going on? These thoughts and more ran through his head until Osomatsu put a hand on his shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts.

"Kara, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about! Sure, I haven't seen our younger brothers all day and that's a little concerning but it's not like they don't have their own lives and stuff. As for insulting you, I really don't know what you're talking about. I mean, I always thought the insults we all throw at each other was just playful banter or something! I didn't think it meant that much to you. I could tell the others to stop if it really bugs you that much, but I don't think they'd listen, being the oldest doesn't exactly elicit that response out of them. Besides, it's not as if we say really profound stuff. I'm sure after twenty something years being called an idiot or a NEET isn't exactly that much of an insult." Osomatsu replied, staring at his brother with a confused look on his face.

Karamatsu stared up at his older brother with tears in his eyes. Something was wrong but Karamatsu couldn't find out what. He did know one thing, though, being treated kindly for once wasn't all that bad. Even if it was really weird and put him on edge a bit.

"Come on Kara, let's go home, I think you've been out in the sun too long or something!" Osomatsu suggested, scratching his nose in typical Osomatsu fashion.

"Yeah okay."

The two of them walked home and went straight to bed after arriving. But Karamatsu took longer than usual to get to sleep.

* * *

"Make sure you don't stay up too late Choromatsu-nii-san!" Todomatsu called from the door to Karamatsu's room. Visiting hours were ending so the remaining brothers were starting to go home, leaving Choromatsu alone with the second oldest.

"I won't. Now get out of here before one of the nurses kick you out!" He shouted, watching the rest of them dash down the hall in a flurry.

Choromatsu pulled up the chair closest to his brother hospital bed, the same one he had found Osomatsu in this morning. He sat down and made himself comfortable before taking Karamatsu's hand and propping up his book nearby so he could read. He wasn't sure how long he had been sitting there reading in the end, even reading certain passages aloud, wondering if his older brother could hear him. That was something that had been on all of their minds, could Karamatsu actually hear them when they talked to him? Had he heard anything they said so far? Choromtasu wasn't sure. He had been too tired last night to even bother trying to research and he spent today here with his brothers. He wrote himself a small note and stuck it into his bag to make sure he did some research when he got home the next evening. Until then he thought it would be nice to tell his older brother good night, regardless of whether or not he could hear him.

"Hey, Karamatsu-nii-san. How are you feeling? Not too good I would imagine. I mean you are in a coma after all! Heh, I hope you're doing okay in there. Even if you can't hear us. We spent the day with you. Osomatsu was here all night last night and Todomatsu took a lot of pictures. Jyushimatsu got whip cream everywhere too. I'm not sure where he got it, though. I hope you can hear us. We miss you. I hope you wake up soon. Good night Karamatsu-nii-san."


	5. And Then There Were Two

" _I hope you're okay."_

" _We miss you."_

" _I hope you wake up soon."_

Karamatsu awoke with a start the next morning, glancing around quickly to orient himself and sighing in relief upon finding that he was still in the sextuplets bedroom and his older brother was still there in bed. Kara was surprised however to find that Choromatsu was also in bed in his spot on the other side of Osomatsu. This was odd. The first night he had been there, Karamatsu had dreams of his older brother, telling him to wake up and the following day he had found Osomatsu in the park. Last night he had the same dreams, but with Choromatsu, and now he was finding the third brother in bed the next morning.

Was this connected to whatever was apparently happening to Karamatsu and why Osomatsu had been treating him so nice yesterday? Was this why he hadn't been able to find any of them on his first day here? Wherever here was. And what had all the voices he heard in his head yesterday been? Were those his brothers from some other place? He doubted it, that really didn't make a lot of sense. But still, it's not like something like that was impossible, not after what he'd already seen. It was odd, though. Why was all of this happening?

The second and third brothers spent the day together looking through different magazines and books. Choromatsu even complimented the second brother on some of the things he had picked out in the magazines. Karamatsu wasn't sure whether or not to be excited that the third brother had complimented him rather than insulted him. Eventually, Osomatsu joined them, claiming to be too bored to go out despite the fact he had no money to do so anyway. He appeared to be enjoying himself as much as the other two had been. The older brother trip eventually sat down to eat lunch, laughing and enjoying themselves as they went along.

Karamatsu's mind kept wandering, however. This was something that he wanted most, but one of his most dangerous fears as well. He was thrilled that his brothers were actually treating him with kindness, but it also terrified him for when they would slip and return to treating him horribly once again. What was he supposed to do then? Would he just go back to wearing his 'cool guy' mask and act as if this whole thing hadn't happened? As if he hadn't been hurt? Or would he accidentally lash out at one of his brothers? Karamatsu wasn't sure and he was terrified of the moment that he would find out.

Their day continued on like this, flipping back and forth between books and magazines. They each picked out different items in the magazines they thought was cool or something they thought would be awesome to have. Osomatsu even tried on his younger brother's leather jacket, pulling off a half-decent imitation of his brother.

"No, no, you need to do it like this." Choromatsu got up and joined their older brother in the imitation.

It was more flattering than insulting, having your brothers try to imitate you. As far as Karamatsu knew, Ichimatsu had been the only one to ever do it, even managed to fool Osomatsu with it. Karamatsu couldn't help but to chuckle. It was pretty ridiculous if you really thought about it. He kept hearing those voices in his head, though, and they really sounded like all of his brothers. It was rather foggy to listen to, but it sounded like they were laughing and having fun. Every few minutes it would get quite and someone would say something only for each of the voices to start laughing again. It was nice to listen to, hearing all of his brothers have fun like that. He hoped they were happy, wherever they were.

* * *

Choromatsu awoke the next morning at nearly the crack of dawn. He stood up a stretched before quickly heading to the bathroom to change into the spare clothes he had brought along with him yesterday. After changing into his clean set of clothes he returned to the main room, grabbing his book in one hand and Karamatsus limp hand in the other. He sat there reading until nearly nine thirty when the other four brothers showed up. The five of them played and goofed around just as they had the day before, all of them silently praying that Karamatsu would open his eyes or move just a little bit, but that didn't appear to be happening anytime soon.

That was alright, though, they would wait as long as they needed to for him to wake up, he needed time to do so anyway! Sure, they wanted him back as soon as possible, it didn't feel right at home without him as it was, let alone everywhere else, but they knew it would take some time for their brother to recover. And when he did wake up they all wanted to be by his side. They had all treated him pretty badly and they were going to make up for it one way or another, if it meant spending all day in a hospital until rare days when they would give themselves a break then so be it.

Nearing noontime Osomatsu and each of the younger brothers bid Karamatsu goodbye for a little while so they could all go find something to eat. Gathering up their belongings to head out and give the nurses at least an hour of peace and quiet before they returned to continue wreaking havoc around the room that held their brother. As they left, however, they didn't see Karamatsus hand twitch ever so slightly.


	6. Don't Let It End Yet

Each of the older brothers grabbed their belongings and went to slide on their shoes before heading to the local bath house for the night. They had spent the rest of the afternoon imitating each other and trying to see who was the best at each brother. They had spent hours doing that, even going as far as to see who was the best version of their younger brothers.

They had all tried to do a good impression of Jyushimatsu but none of them could do the act justice, they all got a kick out of it though. They all agreed that Jyushimatsu was one of the harder personalities of the six to imitate. Karamatsu had been the first to reach the door for the bath house so he took a step to the side and held it open for his brothers to go in before him. They smiled and thanked him before the trio headed inside.

Before long the three of them had washed their hair and were now relaxing in the tub quietly. There wasn't anyone else there just like the first night that Karamatsu had been there. They sat in silence for a while, Karamatsu nearly fell asleep multiple times because it was so quiet and he had been so tired. Choromatsu had woken up several times because of this and he had finally had enough and just let Karamatsu sleep for a while.

Half an hour later and Choromatsu had woken him up yet again, this time informing him that it was time to leave. The three of them clambered out of the pool and back to the dressing room individually. After putting their clothes back on and gathering their things they left in the same manner they came. They talked about different topics, boring things really. Karamatsu couldn't bring himself to focus on the conversation at hand, his mind was too busy wandering. If he was right that would mean he would dream of Ichimatsu's voice and meet him sometime the next day. What if Ichimatsu was what was needed to set his brothers off to start treating him like crap again? He knew he wasn't Ichimatu's favorite brother hell he was probably on the bottom of that list. It scared him to think about it, but before long they were all laying down to try and get some sleep.

The more he thought about it the more it worried him. He had finally got his brothers to start treating him nicely, he didn't want that to end so soon. He didn't want it to end at all if he was being completely honest but he would rather have it end later rather than sooner if that was an option. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and tried to think about the good things that had happened to him over the past few days and the good things he hoped would come.

* * *

Ichimatsu had nearly shoved all of his brothers out of the room the minute visiting hours had ended. He quickly closed the door as soon as they were all out of it and turned around. Sighing, he lifted his hoodie and ESP Kitty hopped out and onto Karamatsu's bed. The small feline walked up to the top of the bed where Karamatsu's head lay. After nudging his head a few times and deciding the older boy was simply asleep, ESP Kitty curled up beside his head, closing his eyes to rest. Ichimatsu sighed again, pulling up a chair beside the bed and gently petting his furry friend.

They stayed like that for what felt like hours but it could have only been a few minutes, Ichimatsu wasn't sure and couldn't be bothered to actually check. Regardless of how long it had been, ESP kitty had fallen asleep early on in the process, being trapped in a hoodie a lot of the day could be rather draining Ichimatsu supposed. It had been at least an hour sitting there when Ichimatsu finally noticed himself starting to nod off. He sleepily looked Karamatsu up and down a few times, taking in all of his features. Most of the color had returned to his face since arriving at the hospital. He also didn't seem to be as frail as he did before. When they had first brought him here, he was covered in blood and he looked like he could shatter at the wrong blow of the wind. Now he was starting to look like his old self, if even just a little.

Ichimatsu scowled, Jyushimatsu had been the one to bring Karamatsu home in that state, so what had happened? Why was Karamatsu in such a state? Why hadn't Jyushimatsu called an ambulance when he found the older brother instead of walking him home? Or had he simply found him not far away from the house and run home? Ichimatsu wasn't sure, but he would be sure to ask after everyone had had their visit with the second brother. There was something odd about it though. Jyushimatsu couldn't keep a secret to save his life. Each of the brothers had learned that the hard way. So why hadn't he told anyone what happened to Karamatsu? Why was this the one thing he could keep secret?

"Oy, Shittymatsu. Hurry up and wake up already. We need to know what happened to you. Jyushimatsu would be the only one who would know, but he hasn't told anyone a single thing about it yet. You need to wake up, the house isn't the same without you."

Ichimatsu wasn't sure when exactly he had fallen asleep that night, or when ESP Kitty had moved, or when any of the nurses came in to check up on his brother over the course of the night, but the one thing he did know was that he had to get to the bottom of this.


	7. Jyushimatsu Knows Something

" _Hurry and wake up already."_

" _The only one who would know."_

" _Hasn't told anyone."_

" _The house isn't the same without you."_

Karamatsu's eyes opened fully as he sat up in bed the next morning. After taking a moment to catch his breath and evaluate his surroundings, he shook his head and looked to the left to make sure he still had all the brothers he had found. Once finding they were both accounted for he closed his eyes and turned to the left. He had dreamt about Ichimatsu last night and if his theory was correct that could only mean one thing. Correct to his theory, Ichimatsu lay sound asleep beside him, not affected in the slightest to Karamatsu's sudden awakening.

The second brother took a deep breath and maneuvered his way out of the futon so as to not wake his sleeping siblings. He didn't bother getting ready in a hurry, knowing Choromatsu would most likely be the next up and would just brush him to the side if he was in a hurry. Sliding on his blue hoodie he headed to the next room so he could climb out onto the roof. One thing his brothers didn't know about him, was that whenever he had the chance, Karamatsu loved to watch the sunrise. It gave him the feeling of starting the day anew, free from anything that might have happened yesterday, and he was always thankful when he woke up early enough to see it.

To Karamatsu's complete surprise, the day spent with his brothers went well. No one really insulted him, besides Ichimatsu always calling him Shittymatsu, and they all seemed like they were having fun. Ichimatsu hadn't caused anything horrible that Karamatsu had feared, and he really seemed to be enjoying the time spent with his older brothers, even if only a little bit due to his stoic expression. The day couldn't have gone better in Karamatsu's opinion and he didn't even know why he had been so worried. But something in the back of his head bugged him. Why were they all being nice to him anyway, especially Ichimatsu of all people? And what did the dream he had about Ichimatsu mean? Who was the only one who knew something? And why hadn't they told anyone? Karamatsu wasn't sure yet, but he wanted to find out as soon as possible.

* * *

Ichimatsu had awoken the next morning only after Choromatsu had whacked him over the head with the newspaper for that day. After being informed that the third brother had been calling him for at least ten minutes, he simply grunted and glanced around, looking for ESP Kitty that didn't seem to be around. He crept to the other side of the bed and found the feline underneath it, tucking him away in his hoodie as the rest of his brothers bid Karamatsu a good morning.

Their day however had been incredibly uneventful as the past few had been. They were starting to run out of things to do in the tiny room and mainly spent it in silence doing separate things. It wasn't bad per say, but it was definitely different from the past few days. After spending the entire day there as always, visiting hours ended and everyone but Jyushimatsu said goodbye to their brother and exited the room to go home. Jyushimatsu turned his head from the door leading to the hallway to his older brother laying in the hospital bed before him. Memories of the night he had seen Karamatsu lying on the side of the road covered in blood flashed through his mind.

Karamatsu hadn't known it, but Jyushimatsu had been there that night when he walked out of a bar that was relatively far from their house. Not so far that Jyushi couldn't make it home in seconds by running, but far enough that walking to it would seem too much of a hassle. Jyushimatsu had been there to see his brother get into a cab and ride away. He had been there a few blocks away from his house to see the drunk driver fly down the street and straight into the cab containing his older brother, smashing head-on into the passenger side of the car where Karamatsu was. He had pulled his brother out of the car and ran, ran as fast as his legs could carry him to their home. He didn't know what else to do at the time. He didn't have a phone so he couldn't call an ambulance, but home wasn't far away, and home had a phone!

He had remembered everything and he knew that he hadn't told his brothers a damn thing about what happened. They didn't seem too suspicious yet, but he figured they would bee soon enough and that's when Jyushimatsu was afraid something bad would happen. Everything would be fine, he just wouldn't tell them! The fifth brother sighed to himself, that plan was no good and he knew it. He didn't have to tell them yet though, that's what kept him calm he supposed. As long as no one questioned it, everything would be okay!

"Please wake up Karamatsu-nii-san. I don't know what to do. I can't tell them. Not yet. Bad things will happen. Please. Wake up!"

Finding Jyushimatsu awake on the opposite side of the bed the next morning was just what Karamatsu expected. What he did not expect however was everything he had heard in his dream. It wasn't enough to really figure anything out, but he had a feeling that Jyushimatsu knew something no one else did and he wanted to know what it meant. If Jyushimatsu had no idea what he was talking about, that would only make finding out what was going on that much harder.


	8. Things Go From Bad to Worse

" _Wake up Karamatsu-niisan!"_

" _I can't tell them."_

" _Bad things will happen."_

Karamasu felt his eyes snapped open and he nearly screamed upon seeing the fifth brothers face so close to his own. Jyushimatsu had always been an early riser but this was a bit ridiculous.

"My dear Jyushimatsu what are you doing up so early? I did not know you had baseball practice today." He groaned sitting upright and rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes.

"No baseball! I want to spend time with Karamatsu-niisan!" He shouted, causing the remaining brothers to stir and sit up.

"We're all spending the day with him Jay, calm down. It's too early for the rest of us to be up yet okay?" Ichimatsu tried to reason with Jyushimatsu so maybe the rest of them could get a little more sleep.

Jyushimatsu agreed and laid back down on the futon despite being dressed and ready to start the day while the rest of them laid back down to try and get a little more sleep. Karamatsu, however could not get back to sleep, no matter what he tried. He tossed and turned but all he could think about is what he heard the fifth brother say in his most recent dream. What couldn't he tell the rest of them what had happened? What kind of bad things would happen if he did tell? And what exactly had even happened?

These thoughts plagued Karamatsu as the hour passed and they all decided to get up and get ready to take on the day. They took very little notice of Todomatsu's absence, simply assuming he was at work and that was all there was to it. The other brothers took Karamatsu throughout the city doing various activities, but no matter how hard he tried, Karamatsu just couldn't get into it.

They assumed he was just having a bit of an off day was all! So Jyushimatsu took them all to the park, remembering that he heard his older brother mentioning that he liked spending time there sometimes whenever he felt sad. Karamatsu had been surprised the Jyushimatsu even heard him say that, granted it felt like it had been ages ago but it was more than likely last month. This made Karamatsu think about what other stuff Jyushimatsu might know about not only himself, but about their other siblings as well.

This also reminded him of what had been said in his dream. What did Jyushimatsu mean by all of the things he said? It only made Karamatsu more confused about his situation and left twice as many questions and absolutely no answers. Karamatsu tried to stop thinking about it, after all, his brothers were making some kind of effort to cheer him up and he was grateful for that.

The day passed quickly and before he knew it Karamatsu was laying on the futon once more. He wasn't sure what would happen tomorrow night since he only had one more brother that needed to return. It was odd, whatever it was exactly. The second brother smiled to himself when he heard Jyushimatsu snoring from the other end of the futon and decided to try and get some rest himself, he had a big day tomorrow after all.

* * *

" _Come on Karamatsu-niisan, wake up."_

" _We all miss you, you know?"_

" _I know we always pick on you a lot, way more than necessary, but we miss you, the house isn't the same without you."_

" _Please just wake up soon okay?"_

Karamatsu groaned, opening his eyes slowly. He was facing the ceiling but felt an odd warmth that hadn't been there when he had fallen asleep. Turning his head slightly he found the youngest brother curled up beside him with his arms wrapped around his torso. Karamatsu took a deep breath and let it out, figuring he wasn't getting up anytime soon unless Jyushimatsu woke everyone up like he did yesterday.

Karamatsu thought over what he had heard Todomatsu say in his dream last night. They missed him? What did that mean? They were all with him now right? So if they were all with him, why did they miss him? Something wasn't adding up and Karamatsu wasn't sure what it was but he wanted to find out.

* * *

Meanwhile, Todomatsu was already awake in Karamatsu's room when the rest of the brothers arrived. He waved to them before turning his attention back onto the second brother. They all remained silent for a minute or so before Ichimatsu decided to make his move.

"Now that we've each spent our night here with him I need to ask." That line got everyone's attention so he paused a moment before looking at Jyushimatsu and continuing. "Jyushimatsu, what happened to Karamatsu the night you brought him home? You were the one who ran home with him all banged up like that, so what happened?" He shrugged.

Jyushimatsu froze in his spot upon hearing the question. He couldn't tell them, at least not here. He needed to get away from Karamatsu, "I'll tell you what I saw, but I won't do it here. We have to go somewhere else."

The remaining four looked at each other and nodded before bidding Karamatsu goodbye and following Jyushimatsu out the door.

Jyushimatsu led them all to the local park. All the way through to a particular tree. The grass below it appeared indented, as though someone had spent an awful lot of time sitting there and contemplating things. Jyushimatsu walked up beside the indent and sat beside it while the rest watched in confusion.

Jyushimatsu took a deep breath before speaking. "Karamatsu-niisan liked to come here with his guitar and just play around with it. He liked writing his one songs or just little melodies out here. It's far enough away from the main park so he wouldn't disturb anyone, but a quiet enough space for him to play and be by himself."

Ichimatsu bent down in front of him and took a deep breath himself, "JayJay I know you miss him, we all do, but you need to tell us what happened okay?" He had never been one for comforting people, that was usually Jyushimatsu's job, but they needed to know what had happened.

Jyushimatsu wiped his eyes with his incredibly long sleeves before starting. "I saw him go into a bar not far away from home. After he went in I saw some of Ichimatsu's cat friends so I stopped to keep them company. I was still there when he came out of the bar a while later. After telling the cats goodbye I followed him until he got into a taxi car. They only made it about a block when it happened. A drunk driver came flying down the street right into their intersection. He hit the taxi car head on the passenger side where Karamatsu-niisan was. He was covered in blood and I dragged him out of the car. Once I had him over my shoulder I ran, I didn't know what else to do! I didn't have a phone! Everyone was screaming! I didn't mean to!"

The fifth son had broken down in sobs by the time he had finished his story. Everyone was in complete shock. Karamatsu had been in a car crash that rendered him into a coma. Ichimatsu quickly hugged the fifth brother, Jyushimatsu throwing his arms around him, and tried to calm his crying, repeating "it's okay" over and over.

Five minutes had gone by and Ichimatsu had managed to calm down his brothers crying a bit. They had all been gathered around shortly after to help calm Jyushimatsu down. The elder two stood up and that's when Osomatsu's cell phone rang. It wasn't a number he recognized but it might be important so he answered it and was shocked to find out that the hospital was calling him.

His eyes only grew wider at what the nurse had to tell him, a sizeable lump forming in his throat. Everyone wore a look of curiosity as he tucked his phone back into his pocket, frozen in place in every other way.

"Who was that?" Choromatsu had asked.

Osomatsu swallowed as best as he could before answering. "It was the hospital. Karamatsu has suffered a heart attack..."

* * *

 _ **I want to thank you all so much for reading and being so patient with me as I write this. I hope you enjoy and hope to get things finished before too long!**_


	9. He's Alive

They ran. Ran as fast as their legs could carry them. They had to get back to the hospital. They had to be sure Karamatsu had survived. With Osomatsu leading the way they all nearly tore the doors of the entrance of their hinges as they sprinted through, scaring the people in the waiting room. They ran up the stairs and into the room Karamatsu had been staying in only to find he wasn't there. Todomatsu was in tears by this point, clinging onto Choromatsu as The eldest brother ran back out into the hallway, demanding to know where they had taken his brother.

Ichimatsu had to pull him back into Karamatsu's room so he would stop causing such a ruckus and disturbing the other patients. Once Choromatsu had the door shut behind them, Osomatsu burst into tears, clinging tightly to Ichimatsu's hoodie. None of the brothers knew what to do, Osomatsu rarely cried, especially in front of them. No one was sure when their parents joined them either. They all just prayed that Karamatsu would be alright.

* * *

Karamatsu wasn't sure what happened. One moment he had been walking down the street with his brothers towards the pachinko building, and the next thing he knew he was doubled over in pain, laying on the sidewalk. It was incredibly hard to breathe and his chest felt like it was going to explode. He could hear all of his brothers shouting, asking him what was wrong and telling each other to call an ambulance or something, but it all sounded faint. He also slowly he noticed that his vision was blurring, only being able to tell the colored blurs of his brother's hoodies apart from each other.

Karamatsu did his best to keep his eyes open, but the effort proved futile as his eyes slowly closed and he drifted away.

* * *

Hours had passed since the brothers had arrived at the hospital. They let their parents have the two chairs that Karamatsu's room had while they sat huddled together on the floor. No one had said anything in the span of time they had been there other than the occasional crying or sniffling. They all just sat in silence in the darkening room, no one bothered to get up and turn on the light.

They sat like this for a while longer when a doctor walked in, looking a little confused at the scene. Everyone turned their heads to look at him, wondering why he was there.

"Judging by everyone's faces I assume you are all here to find out about the state of Mr. Matsuno?" He asked. When no response came he continued, "Well, it was rather surprising and sudden, but Mr. Matsuno has suffered from a heart attack. We took him to the ER immediately and began operation. He is currently stable and in the ICU so we can keep a close eye on him until he wakes up."

Each member took at least two minutes to process the information they were given. Karamatsu was in the ICU. He was stable. He was _alive_! They all burst into tears once more, each grabbing each other in joy that the second oldest son had been able to survive it all. The doctor smiled at the scene before clearing his throat and gaining their attention.

"He isn't awake yet, but you are free to see him if you would like, as long as you remain quiet so as to not disturb him or the other patients." The doctor stated. They all nodded their agreement and followed him to an elevator to go up three floors. When they arrived in Karamatsu's new room they found that some of the color had returned from his face that had not been there this morning and he had been hooked up to an extremely less amount of cables, tubes, and wires.

They each took a seat, similar to how they had in the previous room Karamtsu stayed in. The parents sitting on the only chairs in the room and the remaining brothers sitting on the floor against the wall.

* * *

When Karamatsu finally came to, he didn't recognize where he was. This wasn't the futon, so where was he? He quickly realized of the pain in his chest, though it wasn't as prominent as it had been before he fell asleep. Opening his eyes the whole way he noticed that the ceiling was gray and that there was a quiet beeping noise nearby. He noticed the unfamiliar feeling of tubes throughout his body when he finally spotted his parents sitting across the room from him, fast asleep, as well as the tops of each of his brother's heads.

"Guys, guys, where am I? Are you awake?" He tried to wake them up from his bed, but his throat burned and his voice was quiet and cracking, as though he hadn't said anything in weeks.

Fortunately for him, Todomatsu tended to be a light sleeper and had heard him somehow. The youngest brother yawned and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes before looking up at Karamatsu's bed to see if any changes had occurred while they slept. Todomatsu froze in his place when he saw his older brother looking right at him. _"This is a dream, right? It can't be a dream he's looking right at me! But then how? It has to be a dream!"_ These thoughts and more passed through Todomatsu's head as he continued to sit there.

They sat like that for several minutes before Karamatsu decided to break Todomatsu out of his train of thought. He smiled and lifted his hand, waving it back and forth slowly so as to not hurt himself too much. Todomatsu screamed as soon as Karamatsu had moved, trying to move and get away. The only problem with his plan of escape was that he was sitting between Osomatsu and Choromatsu. His scream woke up each member of the family as he bolted for the door, standing in front of it in case something were to happen.

Each of the brothers woke up and slowly rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, complaining to Todomatsu that he shouldn't be screaming in a hospital. They all rose to their feet and noticed what had made Totty scream in the first place. Not only was Karamatsu sitting up in bed, but he was staring right at them. They each looked at him simply and blinked before shouting in joy and wrapping their arms around each other, bursting into tears once more.


	10. Letting It All Out

They all continued to rejoice as Choromatsu dashed into the hallway to get a nurse or doctor or SOMEONE! Their mother was the first to rush over to Karamtsu's bed in the commotion and embrace him in a hug. He did his best to wrap his arms around his mother as she sobbed tears of happiness into his shoulder. Despite everyone being ecstatic at him waking up, this left him with more questions than answers. What had happened to him? If this was reality, then was everything about his brothers been a dream? Was everything he heard them say just a dream too? What was going on anyway?

Jyushimatsu was the next to come over and enveloped him in a crushing hug, having the other brothers follow his lead. Karamatsu didn't know how to react. It had been an increasingly long time since any of the brothers had received this much affection from each other, especially in Karamatsu's case. What had even happened to him?

Everyone broke the embrace to let the doctor do his job and make sure Karamatsu was okay, once he left however, Karamatsu knew he had to ask before it turned into another hug fest and he didn't get any answers.

"Guys, what happened to me? Why am I in the hospital?" His voice was still hoarse and quiet and his throat burned with every word but he needed answers and he was sick of waiting.

Jyushimatsu was the first to step up and speak. "The other night you went out drinking and went to take a cab home, but you didn't know I saw you get into the cab. Your car got maybe a block away from the bar before a drunk driver slammed into your side of the car. I pulled you out of the wreckage and ran home as fast as I could. You were admitted to the hospital with some broken bones and in a comatose state. This morning, I think, you suffered from a heart attack and were taken into surgery. Which you survived since you're talking to us!" His smile hadn't been present through the speech at all which worried him.

Karamatsu took a minute to try and process everything. He remembered going to the bar, but he didn't remember leaving or anything else after that. "Were you guys here talking to me? While I was in the coma I mean."

Osomatsu was the next to speak. "Of course we were! We each spent a night with you and all day every day. We really started pissing off the nurses too!" He smirked, scratching under his nose in his signature way.

"So the bad thing I heard Jyushimatsu talking about, that he couldn't tell anyone else about, was my car accident?" He looked to the second youngest once more only to have him nod quickly.

Silence hung in the air for what felt like an eternity before Choromatsu broke the silence once again. "How do you feel anyway?"

Karamatsu looked up at him slowly. "My chest hurts a lot and my throat burns. I feel pretty weak too..." As if to prove his point for him he broke out into a harsh coughing fit due to all the talking he had been doing. Todomatsu quickly got him a glass of water, well it was more like a water bottle. Totty had been bringing it with him to the hospital in case he ever got thirsty since Karamatsu's original room had been pretty far from the nearest vending machines.

Karamatsu had downed half the bottle by the time he finally came back up for air, finally feeling a majority of the pain in his throat go away. When he finally handed the bottle back to his youngest brother, an awkward silence hung over the air until he decided to break it once more. "Does anyone know how long I'll be in here for now that I'm awake?"

Each of them shook their head and watched as Osomatsu walked up to the right side of his bed. He scratched under his nose once again before speaking. "We don't know yet, but you can bet the rest of us will be here with you every step of the way. It's good to have you back Karamatsu."


	11. Tell All

Karamatsu awoke the next morning to find his only older brother in the chair beside his bed. Osomatsu had his head resting on the bed beside Karamatsu's leg as he slept. The thought brought a small smile to Karamatsu's lips as he moved the bed as quietly as he could to sit up. The noise wasn't exactly quiet however, as Osomatsu stirred and started rubbing his eyes, clear signs he was waking up.

"Ah, sorry Niisan. I just needed to sit up for a while." Karamatsu frowned, hoping Osomatsu wouldn't be too angry with him.

Osomatsu yawned and smiled up at him, "No big deal! I should be up before any of the others get here anyway!" He smirked in the way only he can.

"Y-You're not mad?" Karamatsu frowned.

"No, of course not! Why would I be mad?" Osomatsu laughed.

"Normally any of us get mad if one of the others wakes us up." Karamatsu answered. It was true, though. They all tended to be quite crabby with whoever wakes them up from time to time.

"Well yeah, that's usually what happens. But you sir are in the hospital and therefore should be as comfortable as possible. So you woke me up, it's not like it's the end of the world or something!" Osomatsu grinned again, scratching under his nose.

"You've all been acting differently since I woke up...maybe you guys haven't noticed, but I have. You've all been treating me a lot nicer than before anything happened. And if none of you intend on acting this way from now on, I'd rather you didn't act this way at all." Karamatsu frowned, looking down at the bed sheets.

Osomatsu recoiled a bit, he hadn't really been expecting this but it needed addressed nonetheless. "Karamatsu what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the constant insults. Whether or not you think I'm there or whether or not I'm ACTUALLY there! You all pick on me more than anyone else. Oh, Karamatsu-niisan what a painful outfit!" He shouted, imitating the youngest brother. "Just shut up, Shittymatsu." He changed his voice to try to sound like the fourth son next. "I hate it! You all think I don't care or that I just brush it off but I just can't do that anymore!"

"Karamatsu, if that shit bothered you why didn't you just say something? We would have stopped you know." Osomatsu looked hurt by everything that had been said and he knew it needed to be fixed.

Tears pricked at Karamatsu's eyes as he looked at his older brother. "Think honestly now, would you guys have seriously stopped?"

Osomatsu blinked. "If it bothered you that much then, yes, we would have stopped. We've become real assholes to each other over the past few years but we are still brothers you know!"

Karamatsu looked at him in concern before looking up. "Alright, I'll take your word for it Niisan."

"Come on! When have I ever let you guys down?" Osomatsu smirked once again, scratching his nose.

"OH! Don't get me started on that!" Karamatsu laughed.

"Rude!" Osomatsu shouted, playfully whacking Karamatsu.

* * *

The elder brothers continued their banter until the rest of the family showed up. Osomatsu asked their parents to stay outside the room for a bit so they could have a discussion, brother to brother. During that time, Osomatsu explained everything that Karamatsu had told him that morning and each of the younger brothers was in their own state of surprise or confusion or both. After making an agreement, as brothers, they let their parents back into the room.

They all spent the entire day with Karamatsu, Ichimatsu even sneaked ESP kitty in to say hello. "Thank you guys, for coming to see me during this whole thing. I know I don't remember the accident, but I know I heard you guys during my coma. Some of it anyway!" He laughed.

"Niisan! Niisan! Can we play baseball when you get out of here?!" Jyushimatsu shouted, his ever large smile plastered on his face once again. "Sure thing my little Jyushimatsu."


	12. Welcome Home Karamatsu

Karamatsu spent the next few weeks at the hospital for the doctors to finish running some tests and making sure he was okay to leave. The day before he was allowed to go home Osomatsu was spending the day with him and the police came in asking if it was okay to ask him some questions. After asking why they were there only to find out that their parents had called them and they had already spoken to Jyushimatsu about the accident did Karamatsu agree to fully cooperate. They had everything they could use out of him within five minutes and left.

The next morning, his parents along with Choromatsu arrived at the hospital to take him home. After receiving his bag of things which consisted of his wallet, phone and clothes among which contained his prized leather jacket, now stained with his own blood because of the accident. He carefully changed into the spare set of clothes his family brought, consisting of his blue hoodie and jeans, and Choromatsu helped him to the car.

The car ride home was reasonably quiet as Karamatsu had fallen asleep not long into the drive, his head rested against the window. Choromatsu smirked at his older brother and rolled his eyes as he looked out the window himself, today was a good day.

The car slowly came to a stop in front of the Matsuno household, gently waking Karamatsu up. Choromatsu smiled and helped him out of the car, watching his eyes light up at the thought of finally being home again after spending so long in the hospital. Their parents had made it to the house first and quickly went inside, leaving the door open for Karamatsu and Choromatsu to make it through as soon as they got there.

They walked in through the door and slid off their shoes carefully before Choromatsu led the second eldest brother when each remaining member of the family shouted a welcome home in celebration of his return. Karamatsu couldn't help the large smile that flew onto his face in surprise at the celebration.

They congratulated him on his nearly full recovery and his return home as he walked in and sat down. They all drank, well all except Karamatsu of course, doctors orders and all, and stuffed their faces during supper time. After finishing supper, and helping to clean up, all five brothers couldn't agree on who should help Karamatsu upstairs and into bed, however, Karamatsu intervened and said he could make it upstairs himself but he appreciated the thought. However after barely making it up the first step, all five brothers lifted him from behind and carried him the rest of the way up.

This act flustered him quite a bit and each of them laughed upon seeing his face. They each got ready as though nothing had ever happened and helped Karamatsu back into bed. Though none of the other five would admit it, it had been incredibly hard for all of them to sleep over the past few weeks since Karamatsu wasn't there. They each curled up under the covers, Todomatsu clinging to the second oldest brother as he fell asleep. Each of the sextuplets slept well that night.


End file.
